Richard Pearce has taken on many business ventures over the course of his career, the latest of which is Frog Fitness—a new 12,000-square-foot specialty gym in The Woodlands that opened in July.
“I’ve done this before,” Pearce said. “I’ve built software companies [and] nutrition companies. This one is fun because you get to affect people’s lives immediately.”
Frog Fitness features a high-intensity interval training and strength-training piece of equipment called The Frog, which Pearce designed himself. Once assembled, The Frog looks like two pairs of ab wheels connected to resistance bands, meant to give users a full-body workout.
“You’re in a horizontal position,” Pearce said. “People don’t stop to think about it that most people can’t even plank for a minute. Now, all of a sudden, you’re using your major muscle groups from your glutes, hamstrings and quads [to] your entire upper body.”
Although Frog Fitness employs trainers and accepts clients, Pearce also markets The Frog to athletes and gym franchises.
“Every home user wants what the pros use,” Pearce said. “It doesn’t go the other way around. J.J. Watt doesn’t care what you use. People want to know what J.J. Watt uses.”
The Frog can be used horizontally or vertically. It can be stationary or mobile, and the resistance bands are adjustable. Additionally, Pearce said it is easy to assemble.
“Some of the really important things to me were the product couldn’t have any tools to go together and come apart,” Pearce said. “The next thing was that it had to be silent.”
Gyms that purchase The Frog in bulk will need the stationary setting for classes, Pearce said. However, athletes may have more space to use the equipment in its mobile setting.
Pearce first plans to market the equipment to high schools, universities, professional teams and gyms. Then, he will market it for people to use in their homes.
“Once you go out and you run a commercial and you say ‘[The Frog] is for home use,’ you are never going to put that inside of an NFL training camp or a Gold’s Gym,” Pearce said. “They won’t believe it will hold up in their environment.”
Frog Fitness is open for community members to try out for free until Sept. 16. After that, memberships will cost $97 per month.
“We’re pretty excited about what this year has to come,” Pearce said.
Other workouts available:
- Bleachers
- Box jumps
- Cables
- Cardio training
- Free weights
- Group training
- Isolation training (coming soon)
- Kettle bells
- MMA training
- Plyometrics
- Power lifting
- Tire flip training
